If you haven't seen Google Cardboard, you absolutely HAVE to check it out! Virtual Reality is still relatively new in education; however, the implications for its use are staggering. Imagine being able to take a class of students to the top of Mount Everest, to the Parthenon, to the nesting grounds of emperor penguins... it's incredible! With a pair of VR Googles, students can use a phone to visit these locations and thousands more. Not a social studies teacher? Neither was the MATH teacher who told me about this cool activity she had in mind for her students... she was teaching the Pythagorean Theorem. Here's a refresher in case you haven't had middle school math for a while: The activity had the kids taking a pretend flight on "Pythag Air" to famous world landmarks and using them to calculate the missing side(s) of the triangles using the Pythagorean Theorem. They had an airline ticket to record their answers: Here are two examples of the activity. You can view the rest of them HERE at the TeachersPayTeachers activity: So creative and fun, RIGHT?? Way better than just solving a bunch of problems on a whiteboard! As the teacher was describing the activity, I saw the perfect opportunity to use our VR headsets... the kids could go on a virtual field trip to the locations that they studied! Needless to say, it was a hit. The kids were floored by how awesome the places looked in the headsets! For this particular group of high-needs learners, any new an exciting way to engage them helps. Kudos to Mrs. Rhodes for her great idea! Are you ready to take your kids on a virtual field trip, too? You'll need:
Where will YOU go with your class? Comment below!
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A few weeks ago, I went on a Donor's Choose posting blitz and posted a bunch of projects that I'd had floating around in my head. Just a few days later, there was a flash-funding event and several of my projects got picked up at the same time! It was amazing! One of my favorite projects included 6 Google Cardboard virtual reality headsets. If you aren't familiar with Google Cardboard, it uses a variety of apps on your smart phone to create a virtual reality experience that is totally immersive and very, very cool. Click HERE to read more about Google Cardboard direct from the source! You can get them on Amazon.com for $10-15 per headset... I bought the ones that are actually made from cardboard, but they do have plastic versions that are more durable (and more expensive). So how can Google Cardboard help us in the classroom? One of the apps that Google Cardboard supports is Google Street View. Street View is a free app that uses pictures to show the streets of famous places. Additionally, users can upload photos. It's PERFECT for virtual field trips! Upon unpacking and watching a YouTube video on how to fold them (because my spatial reasoning skills are HORRID), the first place we went was Paris, France. We walked around the Eiffel Tower, looked up and down some streets... it was amazing. With your phone in the front of the cardboard, it feels like you are standing right there! Our 7th grade ELA team is reading The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. In the story, Percy visits a variety of places around the world. The students are going to hop from place to place and take a virtual tour of the landmarks in the story! Our 8th grade ELA teachers have discussed looking at Anne Frank's house and Edgar Allen Poe's grave, among other places. One of our science teachers wants to use the cardboards to look at different biomes and environments... A social studies teacher is going to have her students visit the camps at Auschwitz, and another one wants to visit the pyramids. The students who use our Makerspace have toured the volcanoes in Hawai'i, the peaks of Mount Everest, the snowy tundra of Antarctica, Cinderella's castle, and more! As if that isn't enough... check out what Google is releasing soon: Google Expeditions! How amazing is that? Teachers will have the ability to interact with their students and take them on a guided tour using Google Cardboard sets. Wow. The SPMS Makerspace has 10 Google Cardboard headsets available for student and staff use - we are looking to purchase more for the future! So... where would you go with Cardboard? Comment below, I'd love to hear your ideas! |
About the AuthorHi! Welcome to my blog! My name is Christine Hurley. This is my 17th year of teaching - I've taught Kindergarten, 4th grade, elementary media, and now I am in my 6th year of teaching middle school media! Archives
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